The person who loves walking will walk further than the man who loves the destination.
Everyone loves a good result. Everyone loves the fulfillment of a finished product. But if you don’t fall in love with the process, the odds of you getting that finished product are vastly reduced. And if you don’t reward yourself along the way, you’ll quit prematurely.
The best strategy I can offer to you is to learn to love the process. You can love the results too, but it’s loving the process that will get you to those results that you want.
Love the contrast of feeling weird and awkward when new figures are introduced compared to how it feels when you have practiced that choreography a thousand times and can do it with your eyes closed.
Learn to embrace the frustration of a new level. Learn to love the feeling of having to dig deep when you are tired and have had to dance so many quarterfinals and semi finals and finals.
Learn to embrace that what you are actually doing is developing. Learn to love that you are never done. Learn to love reps. Learn to love drills. Learn to love being unfinished. Learn to love the feeling of being a beginner, over and over again. Learn to notice when something has gone from unnatural feeling to familiar to mastery. Notice when you got better today, just a little bit. Try to notice that the needle is moving in the right direction. Love the feeling of your body changing and your abilities changing. Love the preparation. Love the practice. Love the work. If you do that, the milestones will come. The results will come. It’s inevitable. They will happen as a side effect. And you are training yourself to love it all along the way, not just at the end.